Making Your Own Snowshoes

(Page 2 of 4)

November/December 1990
By C. Keith Wilbur  
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Hexagonal rawhide weave (the Wampanoags alone had a rectangular weave. All weaves were wrapped around the frame. Except for those of the Wampanoag, Nipmuc and Massachusetts tribes, the toe and heel sections were filled with fine rawhide, attached to a selvage thong.

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Bear paws held a single mortised crossbar, the pointed heels had two, and the Wampanoag shoes had three crossbars. All the snowshoes were flat with no upturned toes.

THE FRAME

Constructing Snowshoes

(see Image Gallery for details)

LIVE WOOD is flexible—so much so that it may be bent into a curve without breaking, and then dried to hold its shape. Choose the right sapling, have a snowshoe mold ready for shaping, and the big winter shoes will be ready for the netting in several weeks.

 Cut two forms from 3/4" scrap wood. Each square equals 1 inch.
 Nail the two forms to a piece of plywood or several lengths of wood, nailed together by several crosspieces behind.
 Blocks of wood are nailed 1-1/4" from the form where the wedges eater. Twelve wedges are needed. The opposite end of each block is 1" from the form.

STEAMING THE WOOD

 Several thicknesses of burlap cover both ends.

To BACKTRACK just a bit-live green ash or hickory, readied by nature for bending, may be difficult to come by. A local lumberyard may be able to supply these woods, usually air-dried and planed to a 3/4" thickness. From the plank, several 7' (or slightly longer lengths are cut 3/q " wide. Each stave will therefore be 7' x j/4" x 3/4". Try to have the grain straight down the length to give the frame maximum strength. Shave the center and tail sections as shown previously, have the shoe molds and wedges ready for action, and the wood is ready for steaming. Only the penetration of the fibers with hot moisture will give enough pliability for bending.

 Measurements vary according to the scrap wood available and the diameter of the can. Raise the staves off the steambox floor with pieces of wood at each end.

A steaming box can be made from scrap wood with no regard for beauty. Piece as necessary. At the center of the bottom, cut a circle slightly smaller than a #to tin can (or any like-size container. Fill the can with water and refill as necessary.

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